The untamed Alpha and his human mate

Chapter 5: Know where we stand

Amaya

I watched as chairs clattered to the floor with the witches, and we all waited for them to get back on their feet, all of us except for Clayton. He had already dismissed them like they were nothing, his back was to them, and he was looking at the two council members, a hint of a light smile on his lips, like the whole thing—the fear, the chaos, the near death— was amusing to him.

The younger-looking one with light brown curly hair gave Clayton an unimpressed look. “It is not a game, Clayton, people’s lives are not for your amusement.”

Clayton didn’t even react, didn’t flinch, didn’t care.

The younger council member looked over to me, face cool and collected, and turned back to Clayton. “She is yours, I take it?”

Clayton didn’t bother to look at me and gave a small shrug, still smirking. “Maybe.”

The older one was clearly bored and muttered, “we are done here, any damages caused by this incident will be paid for,” he said to the owner, and then, looking at Clayton, he sighed. “Take your pet home, and preferably stay there like you are supposed to.”

With that, they both turned and left, the two witches quickly ran past Clayton, almost knocking him over in their haste to leave with the gods before Clayton turned his attention back on them. He snorted a laugh as if the whole thing was funny, then he finally turned to me. “Ready pet?” He asked sarcastically, repeating what the god had called me.

I nodded and tried to pull my hood up, but he came over and stopped me, his hot hands touching mine. “Like I said before, you don’t need to wear that.” His eyes traveled over my face for a moment like he was thinking, and then he murmured, “I prefer pup to pet, so let’s go, pup.”

He opened the door for me, the cold air rushing in as he did and making me shiver. As I walked through, he turned to the owner and smirked. “Sorry for the drama,” and then he left. The drizzle of rain had become just heavy enough that it clung to my skin, soaking into my hair that wasn’t as protected from the hood, the scent of rain mixing with the faint smell of earth and stone filled my nose.

I felt him behind me, close enough that if I leaned back even slightly, I would touch him. I didn’t, but I felt him there like a strong presence.

On the drive home I kept looking over at him, I couldn’t help it. I noticed the way his hands moved on the steering wheel, steady and precise, he had big, strong hands. I noticed the way his jaw shifted slightly when he focused, the quiet control in everything he did, until, with his eyes still on the road, he said, “if there’s something you want to say, then say it.”

Fighting through my anxiety and blushing, I took a calm breath and managed, “gods?” It was a safer topic than admitting I’d been checking him out.

“Yes, they were gods, two of the council members, if I so much as sneeze, those f.uckers come breathing down my neck.” His tone was laced with irritation, like they were a constant nuisance.

I was too curious not to ask, so again, I struggled but got out the words, “who are they?”

He lifted his eyes flicked to mine through the rearview mirror, then back at the road, and he turned right, away from the city and up a long winding road that would lead towards the forest. “The older one is Ares, god of war, and the other is Poseidon, god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses.”

I gave a small nod and smiled inwardly to myself. It was nice I was able to talk to him and ask questions without him retaliating and hurting me.

“What’s your curse?” I barely whispered.

“Nothing you need to worry about, you just do as I tell you and things will go well, understood?”

Ok, clearly some things were a sore subject for him. I nodded and didn’t ask anything else until we arrived back at the castle. The air grew thicker when we entered the forest, cooler, the smell of damp leaves and moss seeped into the car, grounding, earthy, and almost calming.

When we reached the castle, the rain had softened again, a fine mist clinging to everything.

He climbed out of the car and came and opened my door for me. I wasn’t stupid, I knew this wasn’t some romantic, gentlemanly gesture. He more than likely did it to make sure I knew who was in control here and to make it impossible for me to try and run away.

I climbed out carefully, the mud soft beneath my feet, slick. He leaned an arm on top of the car door, looking down at me. “I didn’t buy you to be just a housekeeper.”

When I looked at him confused, he looked back at me, his gaze holding mine, and explained, “I have a daughter, but for obvious reasons I don’t trust you yet. Once we’ve established a trusting relationship, I want you to go find her for me, and bring her back here.”

Now I had to talk. “You want me to take her from her mother?”

“Her mother’s dead.” He said it so casually, as if it was nothing, that for a moment I was speechless, then I asked, “shouldn’t you be searching for her right now before something terrible happens to her? Is she sleeping in the streets? There are so many bad people out there, perverts too.”

“I realise that, but I can’t have you go searching now just to disappear on me, she will be fine for now, I’m sure.”

“How do you know that?”

“Doesn’t matter how I know, but there’s a higher chance no one will want to go anywhere near her if they know who her father is.”

“Does she know?”

“No, I’ve only seen her once when she was a newborn. She won’t remember me, but she has a distinct birthmark like my own, trust me. They will know she’s mine.”

“So the rumours are true about you having the birthmark of a wolf’s head?”

“Yes. Awfully chatty now, aren’t you?”

“Sorry,” I whispered and put my head down meekly.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it, much easier to communicate this way. Come on, let’s get inside.”

As we walked along, I quietly asked, “can I ask who cursed you?” I waited for him to yell at me for asking another personal question or to hit me, but he kept walking through the forest towards the castle and moved a branch out of the way for me. “Selene, goddess of the moon.”

“Thank you for telling me,” I replied.

He grunted a reply, and then we reached the castle, and he opened the door, letting me walk in first. Inside, the castle felt cold and quiet. The scent of stone and polish lingered faintly, clean but empty.

He had me mop the floors and went off somewhere for a while. The floors were still wet when he returned. My heart was thudding in my chest painfully. Please don’t trip, I prayed silently. I wouldn’t survive another reaction like Jackie’s when she’d slipped on the wet floors.

He frowned while walking towards me and said, “why is your heart beating so hard? Relax.”

My worst nightmare happened, he walked on the wet floor and slipped. Worse than Jackie, he full-on went crashing to the floor in a sprawled heap. “f**k!” He yelped.

I lost control over myself as terror set in, suddenly I wasn’t here anymore, I was back there, pain, screaming, burning. I started sobbing hysterically and fell to my knees, the cold marble biting into my skin through my clothes, I pleaded and begged, “I’m so sorry, please forgive me, I’m so, so sorry, Clayton, please!”

He laughed at himself and then looked over towards me at my reaction, and he stood up. “It’s fine, calm down.”

I couldn’t, I was lost in my fear. I couldn’t breathe, the panic clawed up my throat, choking me, suffocating me. I was hyperventilating and hiccuping between sobs. He came over to me and got on to his knees too. “Amaya, relax,” he tried, but I couldn’t. He held my arms and dipped his closer to mine, forcing me to meet his eyes. “I slipped and fell on my ass, it was a silly and funny moment. It didn’t require you reacting like this.”

I broke eye contact and sniffled, slowly getting my tears under control. He helped me to my feet and asked, “why did you react like that?”

I touched my hand to the scarred side of my face, and he asked, “let me guess, someone, probably your last owner, slipped on her ass and took it out on you, that’s how you ended up with these?” He lightly touched the scars, light as a feather, so I barely felt anything at all.

I nodded, and he gave a nod of his own and stepped back. “Ok, let’s clear things up between us so you know what to expect. I don’t care about you, I don’t like you, and I suspect you feel much the same way about me. And yes, as you saw earlier today, I have a very bad temper, but I will never hurt you or lash out physically, unless you try to kill me or try to escape. I can’t make any promises there, as I don’t always have full control over my wolf instincts. P.iss me off I most likely will snap at you or even yell at you, but I will never hit you, unless, as I said, you try to kill me or escape.”

“You’d beat me if I tried to run away?”

“I would if you tried to kill me. Ah f***k it, I’ll just be brutally honest. You try to kill me, I won’t beat you, I’ll f.ucking tear you apart and probably eat you for lunch, you try to escape, again, beating a female is not my thing, but I will most likely manhandle you and drag you back physically.”

“Just those two reasons?”

“Just those two. I’m not going to hurt you because my dumb a.ss slipped on the floor or you don’t cook my food a certain way. I don’t give a f***k as long as you do what I ask. Clear enough?”

“I think so,” I nodded, my eyes planted firmly on the floor.

“Look, Amaya, I’m not going to pretend I’m the good guy, we both know I’m not. I’m the bad guy, and I’m sure the women who know me will gladly tell you I’m a c.unt, but I will never do this to you unless…” He trailed off with a small smile, and I gave a small smile back and whispered, “unless I try to kill you?”

“Exactly,” he grinned, and it was a heart stopping grin. I gave a little giggle, still shocked by his use of the word c.unt and surprisingly relieved he had been so bluntly honest about everything.

I don’t know if my giggle made him feel he was being too friendly because he dropped the grin, stepped back from me, and more coldly said, “anyway, I have to go out tonight, so feel free to do as you please while I’m gone, but stay out of my office and my bedroom.”

I nodded, and he added, “in case you get any ideas into your head, I’ll be locking the place up.” With that he left, and I heard him lock up behind him like he said he would.

I’d never been left alone before, and I felt excitement stir in my stomach. No one was around, so I ran around the place, and ok, then I was gasping for breath after, but it was fun. I felt almost free. I explored the place.

There were two more spare bedrooms that were decorated identically to mine on the same floor and more up another set of stairs. When I reached Clayton’s room, I was so tempted to go inside and look around. I fought against the idea for a while, and then I caved and went in. I would just make sure not to touch anything.

When I went inside, I wondered why he cared if I came in here, it was as basic as my room with some drawers, a wardrobe, a bedside table, and a bed. The only differences were that his bed was a king size and the sheets were black and white. In here the air smelled faintly like him, vanilla, danger, and a smell I couldn’t quite understand, otherworldly came to mind.

I got too curious and very carefully opened the bedside drawer and gasped in shock. It was my first time seeing a d.ildo in person, lots of them actually, four were lined up, all different sizes, one so big I couldn’t possibly see it bringing any pleasure, it would be like giving birth, surely!

There were condoms too and some rabbit looking thing. I didn’t really know anything about s*x or foreplay, so I didn’t know the names for everything I was seeing. When I saw the handcuffs, I got scared and quickly slammed the drawer shut.

I crept back out and shut the door and made my way to my own room. The bed felt softer than before as I climbed in, warmer, safer.

My thoughts wouldn’t settle as I lay in bed, because no matter how much I tried to tell myself otherwise, no matter how much I reminded myself of who and why he was, I couldn’t ignore the feelings that had stirred inside of me when he touched me, when he looked at me, close enough that I felt the heat of him. I didn’t just feel fear, and that terrified me more than anything else.